Read Ebook: The juvenile forget-me-not by Various

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Ebook has 584 lines and 68525 words, and 12 pages

This last expression led Mrs. Garrison to suspect that she had been quite accustomed "to take hold" notwithstanding.

"But your country ladies, in spite of these difficulties, have more leisure than we in town. You are not obliged to keep one servant to answer the bell, and to spend the best part of the day yourself in receiving visits from a set of idlers, as formidable, to those who really value their time, as the unproductive consumer to the political economist."

"And then, too," continued Mrs. Garrison, not appearing to notice this question, "we necessarily have a very large circle of acquaintance for many of whom we care very little; whereas, you in the country can limit yourselves as much as you please; and society is, with you, on altogether a more free, unceremonious, and friendly footing."

"But then," replied Mrs. Rutherford, "country people are, most of them, so vulgar. They know nothing of the forms of society."

"My daughter! O Mrs. Garrison, I am very sorry indeed. She is a wild girl; and her father would indulge her to-day in a strawberrying frolic, so she was dressed accordingly. I am sure she was not fit to be seen."

"I cannot say how that may be, for my attention was so occupied by her bright eyes, rosy cheeks, and laughing smile, that I did not notice her dress at all. But the most proper dress is always that most befitting the occasion; and she looks to me like a girl of too good sense not to have regard to the fitness of things at all times."

"Dress is another great trouble in the country, Mrs. Garrison. There is never a good dressmaker to be had. You may have your dress cut, to be sure, after a fashionable pattern; but then it will not have at all the air of a city-made dress."

"But I thought, Mrs. Rutherford, that exemption from much trouble of dress was another of your country privileges. In town, the tailor and dressmaker are the most important personages, to be sure; since it is not man as God made him, or as he has made himself, but as the tailor makes him, that is chiefly respected by a very large class--and so with woman; but in the country, people are valued for their intrinsic merits--their minds, and their hearts. This is their privilege and distinction."

"But I think, Mrs. Garrison, that no woman appears well who is not well dressed."

"If you mean, by being well dressed, dressed with neatness and propriety, I agree with you; but city finery, habitually worn, would seem to me as much out of place on the person of a country lady, as artificial flowers in her bosom."

"I am thankful," he replied, "that she is a woman of some sense. I beg your pardon, wife, but really your head is completely turned upon the subject of furniture, dress, etc.; and if Mrs. Garrison will set it right, she will do the greatest piece of service in the world that could be rendered to a poor fellow like me."

"Why, Mr. Rutherford, I flattered myself you were quite proud of your wife. I am sure it is as much on your account as my own, that I wish to hold my proper place in society."

Meanwhile Mrs. Garrison, in relating to her husband the events of the morning, said: "We talked, you know, of adapting ourselves to the tastes, manners, and habits of the country; but here is a village lady whose head is as full of fashions, modes, and rules of etiquette, as the finest town-lady's of them all. How should it happen?"

"An empty-headed woman I'll be bound," replied Mr. Garrison.

"Well, as to that I cannot tell. She certainly gave no great signs of intellectual cultivation, and that is the case with most of our fine ladies in town; but one would suppose that in the country, if a woman did not love books, she might busy herself in her domestic occupations, with bees, birds, flowers, etc., without being driven to dress and fashion as a refuge from the ennui of a vacant mind."

"What a strange race we are," rejoined her husband, "to make it our boast that we are rational beings. I think, if those to whom man is said to be only a little lower look down upon this busy scene, the pursuits of the greater part of men, and women too, must seem just about as important as the children's sport of blowing soap-bubbles seems to us. One thing I have to congratulate myself upon--the principal lawyer in the village, Mr. Rutherford, is a very clever, sensible, respectable man."

"He must be this very lady's husband."

"Poor fellow! I am sorry for him then."

When Caroline Rutherford returned from her strawberrying expedition, which had been very successful, she begged to be allowed to carry some of her strawberries to Mrs. Garrison, who by her sweet voice and pleasing address had made a most agreeable impression upon her in their short interview in the morning.

Mrs. Rutherford was quite shocked at the suggestion. "Why, my dear child, your dress, shabby enough at best, is all in disorder. Your hair is out of curl, and you are red and heated. Besides, it is much more proper to send Sally with them. Get me a piece of note paper, and I will write a note."

"O, mother, do let me have my own way for this once."

Her father nodded in a manner which expressed "go, my child," and she was off in the twinkling of an eye.

"O dear me! Mr. Rutherford, Caroline is so wild, so rustic, I am afraid Mrs. Garrison will be quite disgusted with her."

"Never fear, my dear. I will pit my wild flower against the finest green-house plant of them all;" and well he might be proud of his wild flower.

In spite of Caroline's being "such a rustic," Mrs. Garrison took a great fancy to her from the beginning, and she soon became a favorite with the whole family. The oldest daughter, Fanny, was two years younger than Caroline, and two of the sons were older. The mother was not long in discovering that Caroline would be a most useful associate to her children in their lessons; and she invited her to join her little family school. Her industry, energy, and quickness were a constant stimulus to her fellow-pupils. Mrs. Garrison taught her music and drawing, which almost made Mrs. Rutherford forget the one calamity of her life--the doing without silver forks.

Notwithstanding her great delight when Mr. Rutherford ordered a piano for his daughter, she could not refrain from hinting that she thought him rather inconsistent in incurring such an expense, after what had passed on the subject of the forks.

"No, wife," said he, "I do not admit this at all. The forks, in our case, would be for mere show; but the piano will be a source of constant daily enjoyment. The pleasure of a song from Caroline, accompanied by her instrument, is to me worth all the pomp and magnificence of a palace; 'tis 'a sacred and home-felt delight.' Then, think how she enjoys it! Besides, all these things add to the resources from which she would not fail to derive her support, if left penniless to-morrow."

That Mr. Rutherford might feel no scruples of delicacy in regard to receiving all these favors for his daughter, Mrs. Garrison employed her to assist in teaching the younger children.

Caroline often excited her mother's astonishment by her reports of what was going on, from time to time, at Mrs. Garrison's. One day they had all employed the recess in assisting Mrs. Garrison, in country phrase, "to clean up her yard;" which, in this instance, amounted only to gathering from the lawn the dry leaves, bits of sticks, etc., which had been carelessly left behind by the person who had been sent to perform that duty. At another time Caroline had had the sole charge of the school in the morning, because Mrs. Garrison, reduced to extremities by some disarrangement of her domestic establishment, had been engaged in washing windows! and performing divers other services of a similar nature; but "I can tell you, mother," she added, "that she looks just as much like a lady when she is washing windows, as when she is sitting at her drawing-board." Occasionally, when the waiter had been ill or absent, one of the children had tended table in her stead; and once, when one of the servants was laid up with a rheumatic limb, her mistress would bathe it herself, several times in the day, in order to be sure that it was properly done. But the greatest wonder of all was, that a young sister of Mrs. Garrison's came to visit her, bringing an infant without a nurse to take care of it; and not only that, but dragged it about the streets of the village in a little wicker wagon, while mother and child were both so pretty as to attract every body's attention.

At the expiration of two years after their first arrival in the village, Mr. and Mrs. Garrison determined to obtain the assistance of a private tutor in the education of their children. They were fortunate in finding a young man, a Mr. Cleaveland, of accomplished education and pleasing manners, who knew how to make his pupils like not only their books but their teacher too. He was in the condition of many young men in our country, whose education constitutes their only fortune. He was destined for the pulpit, and had yet to acquire his profession in part.

Fanny Garrison, accustomed hitherto only to her mother's teaching, could not be reconciled to the idea of being taught by a strange gentleman, unless Caroline would become a fellow-pupil. Nearly two years passed away, during which Caroline made rapid progress in various branches of education--outstripping even the older boys in some of those studies which, until recently, have been almost universally regarded as inappropriate to women.

She settled it in her own mind, that if Caroline should have altogether a suitable offer in the course of a few years, it was not to be rejected; but otherwise, there could not be a doubt that Frank Garrison's present youthful fondness for her might be cultivated into a permanent sentiment. The country maid and her milk-pail will remain through all time the faithful and most fitting personification of a castle-builder.

Mrs. Rutherford could not forbear communicating to her husband some of her thoughts upon the subject which occupied her so much, and declaring, in unequivocal terms, her unwillingness to Caroline's making only a "common match," on the ground of her being a fit wife for a man of fortune, and qualified to grace a genteel establishment.

Of course Mrs. Rutherford rejected such heretical doctrines altogether, though she had no hope of converting him who professed them.

Meanwhile the simple, happy Caroline mused not of love; she was too happy--too much occupied--too well satisfied with the present, to think of the future. Life, with her, was perpetual sunshine. She was very fond of her father--had a kind and dutiful feeling toward her mother--loved the Garrisons dearly--was exceedingly interested in her studies--and liked Mr. Cleaveland very much. She liked him because she found his assistance very valuable to her in her studies--because he was not only exceedingly devoted, in his office as teacher, to all his pupils, but made them very happy--because he manifested, in all situations, great delicacy of feeling and the kindest consideration for others, showing that he felt deeply and tenderly the bonds of human brotherhood--because he had an agreeable talent at conversation--because he loved the water-falls, fields, rivers, and groves as well as she did, and, when school was over, liked nothing better than to ramble and sport in true country fashion--and lastly, she liked him, as I suppose, because he liked her; for a reason akin to this, enters, more or less, I believe, into the rationale of all the partialities of man for his brother man.

Mrs. Garrison felt some responsibility in regard to bringing so lovely a girl as Caroline Rutherford into constant association with a marriageable young man of no small attractions. But she knew him thoroughly--was certain that he was worthy of confidence, and, besides, was herself constantly with the whole group, both in school and in the hours of recreation.

How could Charles Cleaveland but fall in love? Not at first sight--not because it had seemed to him a very probable thing that he should; but because there was no earthly reason why he should not--because there was every thing to please his fancy, gratify his affections, and approve itself to his reason, in the young creature with whom he was daily associated in interesting pursuits and delightful recreations. In school she was that paragon of perfection to a teacher, a diligent, docile, and apt pupil; by the stream, a naiad; in the groves, a wood-nymph; in the garden and the meadow, the ideal of a bird or a butterfly. How could she but come, in time, to haunt his imagination and make her home in his heart, in one and all the bewitching forms of love's metempsychosis?

Then she, too, began to muse of him. He was the subject of her day-dreams and night-dreams; his image forever in her mind; sleep did not displace it. It was there when she closed her eyes to sleep, and there to greet her at the first moment of her waking. The animated Caroline became pensive; the social Caroline began to affect solitary walks and lonely sittings in her chamber. She gazed upon the moon, or she listened to the murmuring brook or the whispering grove; and the gay and joyous feeling with which she had been accustomed to mingle herself with the harmonies of nature, gave way to one of sacred tenderness, as they seemed to her spirit to give forth a deeper tone.

Still her natural equanimity came in aid of her maidenly reserve to conceal from her lover the true state of her heart, and he felt by no means certain that his love was requited. But neither was he hopeless; and knowing that it would be difficult for him to carry himself toward her as he ought during the three months that still remained of his engagement with Mrs. Garrison without having an explanation with Caroline, which it would be improper for him to seek while he stood in his present relation to her, he determined to ask it as a favor of Mrs. Garrison that she would release him, which he did, of course, without assigning his principal motive.

The morning after this arrangement was made, Mrs. Garrison entered the school-room just as Caroline was finishing a recitation, and said, "Now, children, do your best to leave an agreeable impression upon the mind of Mr. Cleaveland, who is going to resign the charge of you in two weeks."

Poor Caroline turned deadly pale, and the paleness was instantly succeeded by a deep blush. She took up her book and returned instantly to her seat, hoping she had been unobserved; but she was mistaken. Such a revelation is rarely lost upon a lover; and, in this instance, did not escape the observation of Mrs. Garrison.

At any other time, Mr. Cleaveland would have been gratified by the lively and most unaffected demonstrations of regret with which the announcement of his speedy departure had been received by the whole group of children. But now, one deep joy swallowed up all the rest; and his utter inability to reply to them would have been extremely embarrassing, had not Mrs. Garrison kindly and considerately relieved him by a request that he would look into a new school-book which she had just received.

His only trouble in life now, was the interminable duration of two weeks. That period of time overpast, he would declare his love, and then devote himself to his profession with the intent to hasten, as much as possible, the time when he might claim his bride. Meanwhile, Caroline had no resource but to put on, as far as possible, the appearance of being more than ever absorbed in her studies.

Mrs. Rutherford had not been unobservant of the signs of the times in regard either to Caroline or Cleaveland, and felt extremely uneasy and anxious. Her husband, on the contrary, she knew would like nothing better than just such a match for his daughter; and therefore she determined, in the present emergency, to keep her own counsels and act for herself.

During this last memorable fortnight, Cleaveland almost entirely suspended his visits to the Rutherfords, and his intercourse with Caroline, except as her teacher; because he found it almost impossible to carry himself toward her as circumstances required.

On the last day Caroline, although she had got up with a violent headache, would not remain at home for fear of exciting suspicion or remark; but her illness was so apparent, that Mrs. Garrison had insisted upon her leaving the school.

Meanwhile her lover with difficulty possessed his soul, until the hour of emancipation came, and he felt at liberty to throw himself at her feet. He then went in pursuit of her, in the sweet hope that by a few magic words--the lover's sesame--he should unlock her carefully guarded heart, and find its wealth all his own. No one was at home but Mrs. Rutherford.

"Where is Miss Caroline?"

"She has gone to walk--"

"Gone?--which way?"

There was something in his manner which revealed, or, at least, led Mrs. Rutherford to suspect the nature of his errand. She believed that the crisis had come, and that now, if ever, was the moment for interference.

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